1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a product management device and a product management method which manage products carried thereto by a belt conveyor in a predetermined order using a video recording device which records image data of images captured by a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there is known a product management system which manages products such as merchandise using bar-code data read by a scanner. There is a product management system in which management is performed using images captured by a camera in addition to the bar-code data.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-256552 discloses a product management system in which data from barcode data is recorded in and reproduced from a recording device at the same time as a video signal from a monitoring camera.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-35827 discloses an inventory unit provided with a digital camera and a barcode reader. In Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-35827, a barcode label attached to the side surface of a product is read by a barcode reader, and when the data read by the barcode reader does not match the product data accumulated in the inventory management computer, the product is captured by a digital camera, and reconfirmation is performed.
However, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-256552, no countermeasures are taken with regard to errors in reading the bar-code data. Therefore, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-256552, it is not possible to distinguish between a case in which the bar-code data may not be read due to no product being present on the belt conveyor, and a case in which a reading error occurs.
In Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-35827, the product is not captured until it is determined whether or not the data read by the bar-code reader matches the product data accumulated in the inventory management computer. Therefore, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-35827, time is required until a case in which the bar-code data may not be read due to no product being present on the belt conveyor is distinguished from a case in which a reading error occurs. In Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-35827, since the inventory unit is configured to include a bar-code reader and a camera, it is not applicable to a system in which the bar-code reader and the camera are disposed in separated positions.